1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Internet protocol based digital broadcasting system, and more particularly to an apparatus for providing broadcasting channel information in an Internet protocol based digital broadcasting system and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, existing analog broadcasting services are being converted into digital broadcasting services while both analog and digital broadcasting services are provided side by side.
The digital broadcasting service, in this case, means a service for digital-processing and broadcasting video, audio and data (or content) that are provided through the analog broadcasting service. The digital broadcasting service can provide an image 5 to 6 times clearer than the corresponding analog broadcasting service and a sound having a quality ranging from compact disc sound to stereophonic sound. The standard of the digital broadcasting service may be classified into a DVB-MHP (Digital Video Broadcasting—Multimedia Home Platform) system in Europe and an ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) system in North America. Also, there is a system independently implemented in Japan. Additionally, the digital broadcasting service may be classified into ground-wave, satellite-wave and cable digital broadcasting services according to its transmission method.
Meanwhile, the digital broadcasting service is also operable in an Internet protocol (hereinafter referred to as an “IP”) based system, and at present, the digital broadcasting services are being provided to a large number of user terminals. For example, a user can view the digital broadcasts through his/her terminal having a specified IP address, which is not a general digital television receiver. In this case, the user terminal does not receive the digital broadcasting signal from a base station that directly transmits the digital broadcasting signal or a satellite, but rather receives the digital broadcasting signal from a server that receives and converts the digital broadcasting signal on the basis of IP, and retransmits the converted digital broadcasting signal.
Generally, the digital broadcasting service provides an MPEG-2 audio, video and data on the basis of ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization/International Electro-technical Commission) 13818-1 format, which is the MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group-2) system standard. In order to provide the audio, video and data, the digital broadcasting service may constitute independent elementary streams corresponding to the audio, video and data, and then construct transport streams by multiplexing at least one elementary stream.
Now, an electronic program guide (hereinafter referred to as an ‘EPG’) will be explained.
The transport streams (hereinafter used as the same meaning as ‘broadcasting streams’) formed as above are transmitted to user terminals through various networks and physical media. The EPG information, which includes information about the contents of diverse programs and the kinds of the programs, enables the user terminals to search for and receive the streams desired by the users among the transport streams transmitted to the user terminals. Accordingly, the EPG information may be included in the transport stream to be transmitted. Although the EPG information is referred to differently, it is provided in similar ways in Europe, North America and Japan.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the EPG information provided in a general digital broadcasting service.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the EPG information is displayed on a screen, and is composed of a moving image region 110, a text region 120, a channel region 130, a time region and a program title region 150. Accordingly, the viewer can recognize when, and through which broadcasting channel, his/her desired program will be broadcast with reference to the EPG information shown. The viewer can decide the channel through viewing of a preview moving image for the corresponding program or the currently viewed moving image, or can recognize additional information about the corresponding image through viewing of the text region.
Meanwhile, respective broadcasting service providers that are providing digital broadcasting servers on their web sites are notifying the viewers of their own broadcasting schedules on their corresponding web sites. Accordingly, a viewer who intends to view a desired broadcasting channel may select the broadcasting channel by directly inputting an IP address that provides the described broadcasting schedule. However, this may be an inconvenience to the viewer. Additionally, whenever the broadcasting schedules are changed due to unavoidable circumstances, the broadcasting service providers may change the broadcasting schedules one by one. If the broadcasting service providers do not update the changed broadcasting information at appropriate times, the viewers cannot view their desired broadcasts.
Accordingly, it is preferable that the EPG information is provided in the digital broadcasting services that are retransmitted based on IP. However, it is impossible to directly apply the EPG information being provided in the existing digital broadcasting services to the IP-based digital broadcasting services as they are currently configured. This is because IP information (such as UP addresses, port numbers, streaming types (i.e., multicast or unicast), etc.) of streaming servers for receiving the corresponding broadcasting channels, i.e., digital broadcast retransmission servers, is not included in the EPG information being provided in the existing digital broadcasting services. Also, IP information for each broadcasting channel being broadcast from the digital broadcast retransmission server is not included in the EPG information.